Union calls for paid time off due to Metro closure

Those workers should be given paid time off instead, said American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr.

“Employees who rely on Metro to commute to work should not be forced to use personal leave because of Metro’s decision to close its doors,” Cox said in a statement Wednesday. “I am calling on [the federal Office of Personnel Management] to reverse its decision and grant administrative leave to all employees who were unable to report to work due the Metro shutdown.”

Cox said workers were forced into a “no-win” situation when the Washington Area Metro Transit Administration announced late Tuesday that it was closing the entire rail system for a 24-hour period for safety reasons. The announcement followed a fire Monday that caused severe delays inside the system. The rail line is expected to return to regular service Thursday.

The aging rail system has had several ongoing safety concerns in recent years. A head-on collision between two trains in 2009 killed eight people and injured 80 others, and an incident similar to Monday’s caused a rider’s death from smoke inhalation last year. Key members of Congress backed Tuesday’s closure.

The Metro system serves an estimated 110,000 people daily, most of whom use it to commute to work. Tuesday’s announcement left many government employees without means to get to their jobs. The government authorized them to work from home or, barring that, to use one of their accumulated personal days off or to take a day off without pay. Cox said that was unfair to the workers.

“While many employees are able to work from home, that’s not an option for most federal and D.C. government employees. That’s especially true for employees at the lower end of the pay scale,” he said. The workers should get administrative leave — that is, an extra paid day off — instead, he said.